I think it probably goes without saying but the term “Buddhism” also encompasses a whole host of different traditions and beliefs that might largely overlap while still covering a wealth of branching variations. It feels important to sort of be mindful of that larger context as a general rule.

I recently got back in touch with a close friend from high school who was raised under a form of Theravada Buddhism particular to Lao culture, with certain expectations that felt incompatible with the kind of life my friend wanted to live — from the confusion of being told as a little kid you couldn’t hug your uncle now that he’s a monk and physical contact with unrelated (by a certain definition) women is forbidden, or being told to meditate by your grandmother the same way a kid might be told to go pray whenever that kid just needs an adult to fucking listen.

I felt kind of abashed since similar to you, I’ve been doing a lot of reading and exploration on the dharma, mindfulness, understanding our Consciousness, etc, while like... never experiencing an ounce of that baggage. This isn’t meant in a self-flagellating white guilt way — my friend’s husband has also been getting deep into meditation himself, and she expressed how helpful it’s been to have a grounding presence when her own upbringing kind of made that path totally unpalatable to her. I guess I just mean it’s probably like any other time you’re tapping into a rich vein of oral and written tradition too multifaceted to get too absolute one way or another. It’s cool to keep your eyes and ears open to the constellation of human experiences that emerged out of this ancient Indian aristocrat having a good sit under a fig tree, and keep an open mind. You might even find (but not necessarily!), when you start running up against some of the fuzzier or less concrete conceptual framework for Consciousness, that there might not be so strict a dichotomy between “secular” and “spiritual” as it initially seems.

Sorry this was so long and only kind of tangentially relates to your question (or maybe more in parallel?) but other people have already given good answers lol, like if you’re thoughtful about the kind of tools that you put into practice and not an asshole you’re totally fine. Also apologies if that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about recently and just now putting to words.